Construction of $106B SK hynix Mega Fab Site Moving Along, But At Slower Pace <a href="https://www.anandtech.com/show/21322/sk-hynix-severely-slowdowns-building-of-106-billion-fab-site"><img src="https://images.anandtech.com/doci/21322/sk_hynix_m14b_575px.jpg" alt="" /></a>When a major industry slowdown occurs, big companies tend to slowdown their mid-term and long-term capacity related investments. This is exactly what happened to SK hynix's Yongin Semiconductor Cluster, <a href="https://www.anandtech.com/show/16595/sk-hynix-to-build-106-billion-fab-cluster-800000-wafer-starts-a-month">a major project announced in April 2021 and valued at $106 billion</a>. While development of the site has been largely completed, only 35% of the initial shell building has been constructed, according to the Korean Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Energy. "Approximately 35% of Fab 1 has been completed so far and site renovation is in smooth progress," a statement by the Korean Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Energy reads. "By 2046, over KRW 120 trillion ($90 billion today, $106 billion in 2021) in investment will be poured to complete Fabs 1 through 4, and construction of Fab 1's production line will commence in March next year. Once completed, the infrastructure will rank as the world's largest three-story fab." The new semiconductor fabrication cluster by SK hynix announced almost exactly three years ago is primarily meant to be used to make DRAM for PCs, mobile devices, and servers using advanced extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUV) process technologies. The cluster, located near Yongin, South Korea, is intended to consist of four large fabs situated on a 4.15 million m2 site. With a planned capacity of approximately 800,000 wafer starts per month (WSPMs), it is set to be one of the world's largest semiconductor production hubs. With that said, SK hynix's construction progress has been slower than the company first projected. The first fab in the complex was originally meant to come online in 2025, with construction starting in the fourth quarter of 2021. However, SK hynix began to cut its capital expenditures in the second half of 2022, and the Yongin Semiconductor Cluster project fell a victim of that cut. To be sure, the site continues to be developed, just at a slower pace; which is why some 35% of the first fab shell has been built at this point. If completed as planned in 2021, the first phase of SK hynix Yongin operations would have been a major memory production facility costing $25 billion, equipped with EUV tools, and capable of 200,000-WSPM, according to reports from 2021. Sources: <a href="https://www.computerbase.de/2024-03/90-mrd-investment-bau-von-sk-hynix-mega-fab-startet-in-einem-jahr/">Korean Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Energy</a>; <a href="https://english.motie.go.kr/eng/article/EATCLdfa319ada/1731/view?pageIndex=1&bbsCdN=2">ComputerBase</a> Memory

TSMC to Expand Specialty Capacity by 50%, Introduce 4nm N4e Low-Power Node <p align="center"><a href="https://www.anandtech.com/show/21397/tsmc-to-expand-specialty-capacity-by-50-introduce-4nm-lowpower-node"><img src="https://images.anandtech.com/doci/21397/tsmc-semiconductor-fab-wafer-1-678_575px.jpg" alt="" /></a></p><p><p>With all the new fabs being built in Germany and Japan, as well as the expansion of production capacity in China, TSMC is planning to extend its production capacity for specialty technologies by 50% by 2027. As disclosed by the company during its European Technology Symposium this week, TSMC expects to need to not only convert existing capacity to meet demands for specialty processes, but even build new (greenfield) fab space just for this purpose. One of the big drivers for this demand, in turn, will be TSMC's next specialty node: N4e, a 4nm-class ultra-low-power production node.</p>

<p>"In the past, we always did the review phase [for upcoming fabs], but for the first time in a long time at TSMC, we started building greenfield fab that will address the future specialty technology requirements," said Dr. Kevin Zhang, Senior Vice President, Business Development and Overseas Operations Office, at the event. "In the next four to five years, we actually going to grow our specialty capacity by up to 1.5x. In doing so we actually expanding the footprint of our manufacturing network to improve the resiliency of the overall fab supply chain."</p>

<p>On top of its well-known major logic nodes like N5 and N3E, TSMC also offers a suite of specialty nodes for applications such as power semiconductors, mixed analog I/O, and ultra-low-power applications (e.g. IoT). These are typically based on the company's trailing manufacturing processes, but regardless of the underlying technology, the capacity demand for these nodes is growing right alongside the demand for TSMC's major logic nodes. All of which has required TSMC to reevaluate how they go about planning for capacity on their specialty nodes.</p>

<p>TSMC's expansion strategy in the recent years has pursued several goals. One of them has been to build new fabs outside of Taiwan; another has been to generally expand production capacity to meet future demand for all types of process technologies – which is why the company is building up capacity for specialty nodes.</p>

<p>At present, TSMC's most advanced specialty node is N6e, an N7/N6 variant that supports operating voltages between 0.4V and 0.9V. With N4e, TSMC is looking at voltages below 0.4V. Though for now, TSMC is not disclosing much in the way of technical details for the planned node; given the company's history here, we expect they'll have more to talk about next year once the new process is ready.</p>
</p> Semiconductors

TSMC to Expand Specialty Capacity by 50%, Introduce 4nm N4e Low-Power Node
With all the new fabs being built in Germany and Japan, as well as the expansion of production capacity in China, TSMC is planning to extend its production capacity for specialty technologies by 50% by 2027. As disclosed by the company during its European Technology Symposium this week, TSMC expects to need to not only convert existing capacity to meet demands for specialty processes, but even build new (greenfield) fab space just for this purpose. One of the big drivers for this demand, in turn, will be TSMC's next specialty node: N4e, a 4nm-class ultra-low-power production node.

"In the past, we always did the review phase [for upcoming fabs], but for the first time in a long time at TSMC, we started building greenfield fab that will address the future specialty technology requirements," said Dr. Kevin Zhang, Senior Vice President, Business Development and Overseas Operations Office, at the event. "In the next four to five years, we actually going to grow our specialty capacity by up to 1.5x. In doing so we actually expanding the footprint of our manufacturing network to improve the resiliency of the overall fab supply chain."

On top of its well-known major logic nodes like N5 and N3E, TSMC also offers a suite of specialty nodes for applications such as power semiconductors, mixed analog I/O, and ultra-low-power applications (e.g. IoT). These are typically based on the company's trailing manufacturing processes, but regardless of the underlying technology, the capacity demand for these nodes is growing right alongside the demand for TSMC's major logic nodes. All of which has required TSMC to reevaluate how they go about planning for capacity on their specialty nodes.

TSMC's expansion strategy in the recent years has pursued several goals. One of them has been to build new fabs outside of Taiwan; another has been to generally expand production capacity to meet future demand for all types of process technologies – which is why the company is building up capacity for specialty nodes.

At present, TSMC's most advanced specialty node is N6e, an N7/N6 variant that supports operating voltages between 0.4V and 0.9V. With N4e, TSMC is looking at voltages below 0.4V. Though for now, TSMC is not disclosing much in the way of technical details for the planned node; given the company's history here, we expect they'll have more to talk about next year once the new process is ready.

Semiconductors

May 16, 2024

Sabrent Rocket nano V2 External SSD Review: Phison U18 in a Solid Offering
Sabrent's lineup of internal and external SSDs is popular among enthusiasts. The primary reason is the company's tendency to be among the first to market with products based on the latest controllers, while also delivering an excellent value proposition. The company has a long-standing relationship with Phison and adopts its controllers for many of their products. The company's 2 GBps-class portable SSD - the Rocket nano V2 - is based on Phison's U18 native controller. Read on for a detailed look at the Rocket nano V2 External SSD, including an analysis of its performance consistency, power consumption, and thermal profile.

Storage

January 21, 2025

TSMC to Expand Specialty Capacity by 50%, Introduce 4nm N4e Low-Power Node
With all the new fabs being built in Germany and Japan, as well as the expansion of production capacity in China, TSMC is planning to extend its production capacity for specialty technologies by 50% by 2027. As disclosed by the company during its European Technology Symposium this week, TSMC expects to need to not only convert existing capacity to meet demands for specialty processes, but even build new (greenfield) fab space just for this purpose. One of the big drivers for this demand, in turn, will be TSMC's next specialty node: N4e, a 4nm-class ultra-low-power production node.

"In the past, we always did the review phase [for upcoming fabs], but for the first time in a long time at TSMC, we started building greenfield fab that will address the future specialty technology requirements," said Dr. Kevin Zhang, Senior Vice President, Business Development and Overseas Operations Office, at the event. "In the next four to five years, we actually going to grow our specialty capacity by up to 1.5x. In doing so we actually expanding the footprint of our manufacturing network to improve the resiliency of the overall fab supply chain."

On top of its well-known major logic nodes like N5 and N3E, TSMC also offers a suite of specialty nodes for applications such as power semiconductors, mixed analog I/O, and ultra-low-power applications (e.g. IoT). These are typically based on the company's trailing manufacturing processes, but regardless of the underlying technology, the capacity demand for these nodes is growing right alongside the demand for TSMC's major logic nodes. All of which has required TSMC to reevaluate how they go about planning for capacity on their specialty nodes.

TSMC's expansion strategy in the recent years has pursued several goals. One of them has been to build new fabs outside of Taiwan; another has been to generally expand production capacity to meet future demand for all types of process technologies – which is why the company is building up capacity for specialty nodes.

At present, TSMC's most advanced specialty node is N6e, an N7/N6 variant that supports operating voltages between 0.4V and 0.9V. With N4e, TSMC is looking at voltages below 0.4V. Though for now, TSMC is not disclosing much in the way of technical details for the planned node; given the company's history here, we expect they'll have more to talk about next year once the new process is ready.

Semiconductors

May 16, 2024

Sabrent Rocket nano V2 External SSD Review: Phison U18 in a Solid Offering
Sabrent's lineup of internal and external SSDs is popular among enthusiasts. The primary reason is the company's tendency to be among the first to market with products based on the latest controllers, while also delivering an excellent value proposition. The company has a long-standing relationship with Phison and adopts its controllers for many of their products. The company's 2 GBps-class portable SSD - the Rocket nano V2 - is based on Phison's U18 native controller. Read on for a detailed look at the Rocket nano V2 External SSD, including an analysis of its performance consistency, power consumption, and thermal profile.

Storage

January 21, 2025

Micron Ships Crucial-Branded LPCAMM2 Memory Modules: 64GB of LPDDR5X For $330
As LPCAMM2 adoption begins, the first retail memory modules are finally starting to hit the retail market, courtesy of Micron. The memory manufacturer has begun selling their LPDDR5X-based LPCAMM2 memory modules under their in-house Crucial brand, making them available on the latter's storefront. Timed to coincide with the release of Lenovo's ThinkPad P1 Gen 7 laptop – the first retail laptop designed to use the memory modules – this marks the de facto start of the eagerly-awaited modular LPDDR5X memory era.

Micron's Low Power Compression Attached Memory Module 2 (LPCAMM2) modules are available in capacities of 32 GB and 64 GB. These are dual-channel modules that feature a 128-bit wide interface, and are based around LPDDR5X memory running at data rates up to 7500 MT/s. This gives a single LPCAMM2 a peak bandwidth of 120 GB/s. Micron is not disclosing the latencies of its LPCAMM2 memory modules, but it says that high data transfer rates of LPDDR5X compensate for the extended timings.

Micron says that LPDDR5X memory offers significantly lower power consumption, with active power per 64-bit bus being 43-58% lower than DDR5 at the same speed, and standby power up to 80% lower. Meanwhile, similar to DDR5 modules, LPCAMM2 modules include a power management IC and voltage regulating circuitry, which provides module manufacturers additional opportunities to reduce power consumption of their products.

Source: Micron LPDDR5X LPCAMM2 Technical Brief

It's worth noting, however, that at least for the first generation of LPCAMM2 modules, system vendors will need to pick between modularity and performance. While soldered-down LPDDR5X memory is available at speeds up to 8533 MT/sec – and with 9600 MT/sec on the horizon – the fastest LPCAMM2 modules planned for this year by both Micron and rival Samsung will be running at 7500 MT/sec. So vendors will have to choose between the flexibility of offering modular LPDDR5X, or the higher bandwidth (and space savings) offered by soldering down their memory.

Micron, for its part, is projecting that 9600 MT/sec LPCAMM2 modules will be available by 2026. Though it's all but certain that faster memory will also be avaialble in the same timeframe.

Micron's Crucial LPDDR5X 32 GB module costs $174.99, whereas a 64 GB module costs $329.99.

Memory

May 12, 2024

CUDIMM Standard Set to Make Desktop Memory a Bit Smarter and a Lot More Robust <p>While the new CAMM and LPCAMM memory modules for laptops have garnered a great deal of attention in recent months, it's not just the mobile side of the PC memory industry that is looking at changes. The desktop memory market is also coming due for some upgrades to further improve DIMM performance, in the form of a new DIMM variety called the Clocked Unbuffered DIMM (CUDIMM). And while this memory isn't in use quite yet, several memory vendors had their initial CUDIMM products on display at this year's Computex trade show, offering a glimpse into the future of desktop memory.</p>

<p>A variation on traditional Unbuffered DIMMs (UDIMMs), Clocked UDIMMs (and Clocked SODIMMs) have been created as another solution to the ongoing signal integrity challenges presented by DDR5 memory. DDR5 allows for rather speedy transfer rates with removable (and easily installed) DIMMs, but further performance increases are running up against the laws of physics when it comes to the electrical challenges of supporting memory on a stick – particularly with so many capacity/performance combinations like we see today. And while those challenges aren't insurmountable, if DDR5 (and eventually, DDR6) are to keep increasing in speed, some changes appear to be needed to produce more electrically robust DIMMs, which is giving rise to the CUDIMM.</p>

<p>Standardized by JEDEC earlier this year as <a href="https://www.jedec.org/standards-documents/docs/jesd323">JESD323</a>, CUDIMMs tweak the traditional unbuffered DIMM by adding a clock driver (CKD) to the DIMM itself, with the tiny IC responsible for regenerating the clock signal driving the actual memory chips. By generating a clean clock locally on the DIMM (rather than directly using the clock from the CPU, as is the case today), CUDIMMs are designed to offer improved stability and reliability at high memory speeds, combating the electrical issues that would otherwise cause reliability issues at faster memory speeds. In other words, adding a clock driver is the key to keeping DDR5 operating reliably at high clockspeeds.</p>

<p>All told, JEDEC is proposing that CUDIMMs be used for DDR5-6400 speeds and higher, with the first version of the specification covering speeds up to DDR5-7200. The new DIMMs will also be drop-in compatible with existing platforms (at least on paper), using the same 288-pin connector as today's standard DDR5 UDIMM and allowing for a relatively smooth transition towards higher DDR5 clockspeeds.</p>
Memory

CUDIMM Standard Set to Make Desktop Memory a Bit Smarter and a Lot More Robust
While the new CAMM and LPCAMM memory modules for laptops have garnered a great deal of attention in recent months, it's not just the mobile side of the PC memory industry that is looking at changes. The desktop memory market is also coming due for some upgrades to further improve DIMM performance, in the form of a new DIMM variety called the Clocked Unbuffered DIMM (CUDIMM). And while this memory isn't in use quite yet, several memory vendors had their initial CUDIMM products on display at this year's Computex trade show, offering a glimpse into the future of desktop memory.

A variation on traditional Unbuffered DIMMs (UDIMMs), Clocked UDIMMs (and Clocked SODIMMs) have been created as another solution to the ongoing signal integrity challenges presented by DDR5 memory. DDR5 allows for rather speedy transfer rates with removable (and easily installed) DIMMs, but further performance increases are running up against the laws of physics when it comes to the electrical challenges of supporting memory on a stick – particularly with so many capacity/performance combinations like we see today. And while those challenges aren't insurmountable, if DDR5 (and eventually, DDR6) are to keep increasing in speed, some changes appear to be needed to produce more electrically robust DIMMs, which is giving rise to the CUDIMM.

Standardized by JEDEC earlier this year as JESD323, CUDIMMs tweak the traditional unbuffered DIMM by adding a clock driver (CKD) to the DIMM itself, with the tiny IC responsible for regenerating the clock signal driving the actual memory chips. By generating a clean clock locally on the DIMM (rather than directly using the clock from the CPU, as is the case today), CUDIMMs are designed to offer improved stability and reliability at high memory speeds, combating the electrical issues that would otherwise cause reliability issues at faster memory speeds. In other words, adding a clock driver is the key to keeping DDR5 operating reliably at high clockspeeds.

All told, JEDEC is proposing that CUDIMMs be used for DDR5-6400 speeds and higher, with the first version of the specification covering speeds up to DDR5-7200. The new DIMMs will also be drop-in compatible with existing platforms (at least on paper), using the same 288-pin connector as today's standard DDR5 UDIMM and allowing for a relatively smooth transition towards higher DDR5 clockspeeds.
Memory

July 22, 2024

Sabrent Rocket nano V2 External SSD Review: Phison U18 in a Solid Offering
Sabrent's lineup of internal and external SSDs is popular among enthusiasts. The primary reason is the company's tendency to be among the first to market with products based on the latest controllers, while also delivering an excellent value proposition. The company has a long-standing relationship with Phison and adopts its controllers for many of their products. The company's 2 GBps-class portable SSD - the Rocket nano V2 - is based on Phison's U18 native controller. Read on for a detailed look at the Rocket nano V2 External SSD, including an analysis of its performance consistency, power consumption, and thermal profile.

Storage

December 17, 2024

Sabrent Rocket nano V2 External SSD Review: Phison U18 in a Solid Offering
Sabrent's lineup of internal and external SSDs is popular among enthusiasts. The primary reason is the company's tendency to be among the first to market with products based on the latest controllers, while also delivering an excellent value proposition. The company has a long-standing relationship with Phison and adopts its controllers for many of their products. The company's 2 GBps-class portable SSD - the Rocket nano V2 - is based on Phison's U18 native controller. Read on for a detailed look at the Rocket nano V2 External SSD, including an analysis of its performance consistency, power consumption, and thermal profile.

Storage

January 26, 2025

Two Is Better Than One: LG Starts Production of 13-inch Tandem OLED Display for Laptops <p align="center"><a href="https://www.anandtech.com/show/21456/two-is-better-than-one-lg-starts-production-of-13inch-tandem-oled-for-laptops"><img src="https://images.anandtech.com/doci/21456/lg-oled-tandem_575px.jpg" alt="" /></a></p><p><p>OLED panels have a number of advantages, including deep blacks, fast response times, and energy efficiency; most of these stemming from the fact that they do not need backlighting. However they also have drawbacks, as well, as trying to drive them to be as bright as a high-tier LCD will quickly wear out the organic material used. Researchers have been spending the past couple of decades developing ways to prolong the lifespans of OLED materials, and recently LG has put together a novel (if brute force) solution: halve the work by doubling the number of pixels. This is the basis of the company's new tandem OLED technology, which has recently gone into mass production.</p>

<p>The Tandem OLED technology introduced by LG Display uses two stacks of red, green, and blue (RGB) organic light-emitting layers, which are layered on top fo each other, essentially reducing how bright each layer needs to individually be in order to hit a specific cumulative brightness. By combining multiple OLED pixels running at a lower brightness, tandem OLED displays are intended to offer higher brightness and durability than traditional single panel OLED displays, reducing the wear on the organic materials in normal situations – and by extension, making it possible to crank up the brightness of the panels well beyond what a single panel could sustain without cooking itself. Overall, LG claims that tandem panels can hit over three-times the brightness of standard OLED panels.</p>

<p>The switch to tandem panels also comes with energy efficiency benefits, as the power consumption of OLED pixels is not linear with the output brightness. According to LG, their tandem panels consume up to 40% less power. More interesting from the manufacturing side of matters, LG's tandem panel stack is 40% thinner (and 28%) lighter than existing OLED laptop screens, despite having to get a whole second layer of pixels in there.</p>

<p>In terms of specifications, the 13-inch tandem OLED panel feature a WQXGA+ (2880×1800) resolution and can cover 100% of the DCI-P3 color gamut. The panel is also certified to meet VESA's Display HDR True Black 500 requirements, which among other things, requires that it can hit 500 nits of brightness. And given that this tech is meant to go into tablets and laptops, it shouldn't come as any surprise that the display panel is also touch sensitive, as well.</p>

<p>"We will continue to strengthen the competitiveness of OLED products for IT applications and offer differentiated customer value based on distinctive strengths of Tandem OLED, such as long life, high brightness, and low power consumption," said Jae-Won Jang, Vice President and Head of the Medium Display Product Planning Division at LG Display.</p>

<p>Without any doubts, LG's Tandem OLED display panel looks impressive. The company is banking on it doing well in the high-end laptop and tablet markets, where manufacturers have been somewhat hesitant to embrace OLED displays due to power concerns. The technology has already been adopted by Apple for their most recent iPad Pro tablets, and now LG is making it available to a wider group of OEMs.</p>

<p>What remains to be seen is the technology's cost. Computer-grade OLED panels are already a more expensive option, and this one ups the ante with two layers of OLED pixels. So it isn't a question of whether it will be reserved for premium, high-margin devices, but a matter of just how much it will add to the final price tag.</p>

<p>For now, LG Display does not disclose which PC OEMs are set to use its 13-inch Tandem OLED panel, though as the company is a supplier to virtually all of the PC OEMs, there's little doubt it should crop up in multiple laptops soon enough.</p>
</p> Displays

Two Is Better Than One: LG Starts Production of 13-inch Tandem OLED Display for Laptops
OLED panels have a number of advantages, including deep blacks, fast response times, and energy efficiency; most of these stemming from the fact that they do not need backlighting. However they also have drawbacks, as well, as trying to drive them to be as bright as a high-tier LCD will quickly wear out the organic material used. Researchers have been spending the past couple of decades developing ways to prolong the lifespans of OLED materials, and recently LG has put together a novel (if brute force) solution: halve the work by doubling the number of pixels. This is the basis of the company's new tandem OLED technology, which has recently gone into mass production.

The Tandem OLED technology introduced by LG Display uses two stacks of red, green, and blue (RGB) organic light-emitting layers, which are layered on top fo each other, essentially reducing how bright each layer needs to individually be in order to hit a specific cumulative brightness. By combining multiple OLED pixels running at a lower brightness, tandem OLED displays are intended to offer higher brightness and durability than traditional single panel OLED displays, reducing the wear on the organic materials in normal situations – and by extension, making it possible to crank up the brightness of the panels well beyond what a single panel could sustain without cooking itself. Overall, LG claims that tandem panels can hit over three-times the brightness of standard OLED panels.

The switch to tandem panels also comes with energy efficiency benefits, as the power consumption of OLED pixels is not linear with the output brightness. According to LG, their tandem panels consume up to 40% less power. More interesting from the manufacturing side of matters, LG's tandem panel stack is 40% thinner (and 28%) lighter than existing OLED laptop screens, despite having to get a whole second layer of pixels in there.

In terms of specifications, the 13-inch tandem OLED panel feature a WQXGA+ (2880×1800) resolution and can cover 100% of the DCI-P3 color gamut. The panel is also certified to meet VESA's Display HDR True Black 500 requirements, which among other things, requires that it can hit 500 nits of brightness. And given that this tech is meant to go into tablets and laptops, it shouldn't come as any surprise that the display panel is also touch sensitive, as well.

"We will continue to strengthen the competitiveness of OLED products for IT applications and offer differentiated customer value based on distinctive strengths of Tandem OLED, such as long life, high brightness, and low power consumption," said Jae-Won Jang, Vice President and Head of the Medium Display Product Planning Division at LG Display.

Without any doubts, LG's Tandem OLED display panel looks impressive. The company is banking on it doing well in the high-end laptop and tablet markets, where manufacturers have been somewhat hesitant to embrace OLED displays due to power concerns. The technology has already been adopted by Apple for their most recent iPad Pro tablets, and now LG is making it available to a wider group of OEMs.

What remains to be seen is the technology's cost. Computer-grade OLED panels are already a more expensive option, and this one ups the ante with two layers of OLED pixels. So it isn't a question of whether it will be reserved for premium, high-margin devices, but a matter of just how much it will add to the final price tag.

For now, LG Display does not disclose which PC OEMs are set to use its 13-inch Tandem OLED panel, though as the company is a supplier to virtually all of the PC OEMs, there's little doubt it should crop up in multiple laptops soon enough.

Displays

July 22, 2024

TSMC to Expand Specialty Capacity by 50%, Introduce 4nm N4e Low-Power Node
With all the new fabs being built in Germany and Japan, as well as the expansion of production capacity in China, TSMC is planning to extend its production capacity for specialty technologies by 50% by 2027. As disclosed by the company during its European Technology Symposium this week, TSMC expects to need to not only convert existing capacity to meet demands for specialty processes, but even build new (greenfield) fab space just for this purpose. One of the big drivers for this demand, in turn, will be TSMC's next specialty node: N4e, a 4nm-class ultra-low-power production node.

"In the past, we always did the review phase [for upcoming fabs], but for the first time in a long time at TSMC, we started building greenfield fab that will address the future specialty technology requirements," said Dr. Kevin Zhang, Senior Vice President, Business Development and Overseas Operations Office, at the event. "In the next four to five years, we actually going to grow our specialty capacity by up to 1.5x. In doing so we actually expanding the footprint of our manufacturing network to improve the resiliency of the overall fab supply chain."

On top of its well-known major logic nodes like N5 and N3E, TSMC also offers a suite of specialty nodes for applications such as power semiconductors, mixed analog I/O, and ultra-low-power applications (e.g. IoT). These are typically based on the company's trailing manufacturing processes, but regardless of the underlying technology, the capacity demand for these nodes is growing right alongside the demand for TSMC's major logic nodes. All of which has required TSMC to reevaluate how they go about planning for capacity on their specialty nodes.

TSMC's expansion strategy in the recent years has pursued several goals. One of them has been to build new fabs outside of Taiwan; another has been to generally expand production capacity to meet future demand for all types of process technologies – which is why the company is building up capacity for specialty nodes.

At present, TSMC's most advanced specialty node is N6e, an N7/N6 variant that supports operating voltages between 0.4V and 0.9V. With N4e, TSMC is looking at voltages below 0.4V. Though for now, TSMC is not disclosing much in the way of technical details for the planned node; given the company's history here, we expect they'll have more to talk about next year once the new process is ready.

Semiconductors

May 16, 2024

Sabrent Rocket nano V2 External SSD Review: Phison U18 in a Solid Offering
Sabrent's lineup of internal and external SSDs is popular among enthusiasts. The primary reason is the company's tendency to be among the first to market with products based on the latest controllers, while also delivering an excellent value proposition. The company has a long-standing relationship with Phison and adopts its controllers for many of their products. The company's 2 GBps-class portable SSD - the Rocket nano V2 - is based on Phison's U18 native controller. Read on for a detailed look at the Rocket nano V2 External SSD, including an analysis of its performance consistency, power consumption, and thermal profile.

Storage

January 21, 2025

Hot Posts

Posted by The Techinical Support

Post a Comment

0 Comments

Popular Post

Search This Blog

Report Abuse

OfferNest

Subscribe Us

Most Popular

Facebook

Tags

Categories

Random Posts

Popular Posts

Footer Menu Widget

Contact form

Hot Posts

Posted by The Techinical Support

You may like these posts

Post a Comment

0 Comments

Popular Post

Search This Blog

Report Abuse

OfferNest

Social Plugin

Subscribe Us

Most Popular

Facebook

Tags

Categories

Random Posts

Popular Posts

Footer Menu Widget

Contact form